Don't Freak Out
by moral-particularist
Summary: Hermione tells Harry and Ron about the new romance in her life - but warns them not to freak out. One-Shot, post-Hogwarts, EWE, AU. Kind of fluffy


"I have something to tell you both," Hermione started, shifting slightly in her seat.

Harry and Ron had just sat down at the dining table at Grimmauld Place when they started glancing at their best friend with concerned looks.

"And please **don't freak out**."

"Mione, you're only making us even more freaked out by not telling us what's going on," Harry said. Nervously, he reached for the wine and poured himself a glass from the cheap grocery store box.

Ron, worried about where the conversation was going, started filling his plate with butter chicken and rice — his regular Friday night comfort food.

Taking deep breaths, Hermione started speaking again. "I have a boyfriend."

"WHAT," the boys—sorry, _men_—thundered.

She shot them a stern glare. "And before you start getting on my nerves, please allow me to tell the story."

Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Why haven't you told us earlier," Ron said. "We tell each other everything! Just yesterday Harry told me about a gross fungus he found out in Winchester while he was investigating some bloke."

"I know, it's just that this case is a bit, different," she said. "Both of you are engaged to Ginny and Lavender, so I just wanted to wait a little bit until it became serious."

"So is it, is it serious?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded, slowly.

"We've—we've actually moved in together," she said. The boys looked at her, jaws dropping. "And before you ask who it is, I'll just come out and say: it's Draco."

"HERMIONE!" Harry and Ron responded, incredulously.

"Like I said earlier, please **don't freak out**," she said, wringing her hands. "It's going really, really well between us, and I just wanted to be able to tell my two best friends—whom I've known since we were _eleven_—about the new man in my life."

Harry and Ron looked at each other before nodding at Hermione to continue.

"It was shortly after the Battle at Hogwarts. He found me in a coffee shop in Muggle London by chance. He had been living outside the wizarding world for a few weeks by then as an act of self-atonement, and he told me that he felt guilty about what happened since that night at the top of the Astronomy Tower.

"We talked for hours. He apologized for the fighting Malfoy Manor, for Crabbe's fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement, for everything. By the time the shop closed at midnight, I could see the hurt in his eyes.

"We kept in touch after that. Sometimes we would go see a film, or visit the latest exhibit at the art gallery, or just take a stroll in the park. He asked about my parents in Australia and I asked about his new job at a Muggle research company.

"One evening, he walked me home, and just as he was about to turn around and leave, I moved towards him and placed a gentle, but firm, kiss on his lips.

"We've been dating since then, and last week he asked me to move in with him in his flat. And I said yes."

Harry and Ron were listening intently, and when she finished talking, they both exhaled, breathing normally once more.

"Wow, Hermione that was… intense," Harry said, slowly. "Look, I know you think we would have given you a hard time because it's Malfoy, but it's been a long time since we were in school, and from what you've told us, he really loves you."

"Yeah Hermione, we don't hold it against you for being with Malfoy," Ron noted. "If you love each other, then be together. We won't stop you. I guess we wish you would have just told us earlier—we're your best friends!"

Hermione was tearing up and leapt across the table to hug Harry and Ron.

They talked and ate and drank for the rest of the night as Hermione filled them in on the details of her wonderful love story with Draco ("He recited Shakespeare to me in the bath, Harry, could you believe it!").

Harry, three glasses of wine in, announced that Ginny was pregnant ("She wanted to wait to tell you guys but I just love you both so fucking much!"), while Ron told them—with a mouthful of rice—that he and Lavender had set a wedding date ("It's in August though, hopefully she'll let me wear shorts to the ceremony").

As the evening began winding down, the trio heard a knock at the door. "I'll get it," Harry said, standing up from the table and made his way to the entrance.

He opened the door to see Malfoy, dressed in a v-neck cardigan, blood-red Oxford button-down, and dark black jeans, leaning against the frame.

"Potter," Draco said, uneasy around his old childhood rival. "I'm here to pick up Hermione from boys club."

"Malfoy—actually, I guess I should call you Draco, now that you're dating my best friend," he said. Draco smiled slightly, before shaking his hand. "Harry, then."

"Why don't you come inside while I get Hermione's jacket," he said, clearing a path for Draco.

As Draco walked towards the dining room, Hermione came sprinting out before jumping in his soft and warm embrace. "Hey," she said looking in his eyes, before she kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too," he grinned.

**Author's Note: I'm not J.K. Rowling obviously, so I don't own Harry Potter. This story is also on tumblr at moral-particularist!**


End file.
